Bugs Have to Stick Together
by tpt player 5701
Summary: A "Mind Games"-verse story. "Chloe, what you did today was uncalled for." Sabrina gasped and nearly covered her mouth with her hand. Where had that come from? When had she ever spoken to Chloe that way before? Nevertheless, feeling Nooroo's weight in her purse gave steel to Sabrina's spine and she plunged on. "You shouldn't have said those things to Marinette today."
1. Movie Night

_AN: This series of One-Shot vignettes takes place within the "Mind Games"-verse, the series of _Miraculous_ fan fictions I've been publishing which deviates from the series after "The Puppeteer 2." Each chapter with begin with a note on its timing within the larger story. This came from a realization I made partway through publishing "Tit for Tat" that I've given Chloe a lot of character development, but not all of it has happened during the stories I've written. The stories here fill in those gaps, taking Chloe, Sabrina, and their friendship from where we see it in the series to the point they reach in "Tit for Tat."_

_If you are new and want to read it all in chronological order, here is the order:_

"_Milady"_

"_Bugs" ch. 1-2_

"_Mind Games" (up to the Epilogue)_

"_Bugs" ch. 3-5_

"_Mind Games" Epilogue part 1_

"_Bugs" ch. 6_

"_Mind Games" Epilogue part 2_

"_Bugs" ch. 7-8_

"_Tit for Tat"_

_Replies to specific reviews from the last chapter of "Tit for Tat":_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: The sapphire isn't a miraculous; if it were, the gem and ankh wouldn't be able to be separated while Jagged Stone was wearing it without him noticing. The book has information about alleged non-Kwami-based magical objects, one of which is this sapphire. So, this is the first hint at the existence of magic in the "Mind Games"-verse._

_Note: This chapter takes place the day after the ending of "Milady," which is the night after the team rescued Chloe from Mayura and Volpina._

* * *

"I wish I could tell you what's going on, I really do," Chloe said. She was sitting in the guest room that the Dupain-Chengs had set aside for her. It was almost time for their (rescheduled) movie night to begin, but Chloe had been ignoring Sabrina's calls and messages all day, and it was time to call her best friend back.

"Your father's been looking for you all day," Sabrina replied. Chloe could hear a guardedness in the tone, even through the phone. "He asked if I knew where you were, and I finally told him you were staying with me. But we both know that's a lie."

"It is," Chloe agreed absently. "Look, I can't tell you any more than this," she finally said. "I'm on hero business, and since Hawk Moth knows my identity, I can't go near any of my usual places or friends. But believe me, I'd much rather stay at _your_ apartment than here."

"I understand," Sabrina said. "I'm glad you're getting to do the hero business now. I know that's what you've wanted."

"You have no idea!" Chloe gushed. She couldn't help the huge grin that spread across her face. "I'm part of the group! I'm hanging out with my hero! It's everything I'd hoped for!"

"I'm happy for you."

"Oh, before I forget, stop at my penthouse tomorrow and pack a bag of clothes for me. Then drop it off at the Eiffel Tower before 7:30 AM. I didn't have time to pack, so I don't have any of my own clothes to wear."

"I can do that," Sabrina answered. "I'll do it on my way home from Rose's house. She invited me, Mylène, and Juleka over to play games tonight."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, that would be fine," Chloe said, absentmindedly. "Well, I should go. The others are probably waiting for me. Bye."

"Oh, okay. Bye," Sabrina mumbled, right before Chloe ended the call.

Chloe opened the guest room door to hear a roar of laughter coming from the living room. Curious, she walked over to the corner and peeked around to see what was happening. M. Dupain was sitting on the couch with one arm loosely draped over Mme Cheng's shoulders. With his other hand he was gesturing animatedly. "I tell you, you have never _seen_ a soufflé rise so much! By the time I realized I'd used five times the number of egg whites, the soufflé had already filled the entire oven!"

"How do you use five times the number of egg whites, Papa?" Marinette asked, stifling her giggles. She and Alya were sitting on the rug in front of her parents.

"I… may have misread the recipe," M. Dupain chuckled ruefully.

"Your Papa means he was so busy staring at the other student at his station that his eyes switched recipes so he read the '15' grams of sugar in the next recipe and thought that was the number of eggs he was supposed to use in his soufflé," Mme Cheng told them, poking her husband in the ribcage impishly.

"Wait, didn't the two of you meet in that class?" Marinette asked looking at her father in shock.

M. Dupain blushed and ran a hand through his hair sheepishly.

"So the 'other student' he was looking at…" Alya began, raising an eyebrow. "Did she happen to be Chinese?"

Mme Cheng burst out laughing. "She was indeed," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "The first time I ever really looked at Tom was after he'd somehow exploded an oven with that soufflé-monster! He was covered from head to toe with soufflé! But to be fair, the soufflé was still absolutely delicious."

"Ah, Mlle Bourgeois!" M. Dupain called, seeing Chloe still hiding in the corner by the hallway. He waved her over. "Please, come and join us!"

Feeling out of place, Chloe walked over and sat down off to the side, leaving a little space between herself and Alya and Marinette. Alya arched an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything.

"Let's see, where were we?" M. Dupain asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"The soufflé that exploded," Alya supplied. She turned to Mme Cheng and asked "But when you say the soufflé was delicious, are you _just_ talking about the soufflé?"

"Alya!" Marinette squealed, smacking her arm and turning bright red.

Mme Cheng simply smiled and leaned into M. Dupain's chest a little more. "It was just the soufflé then," she told them. "It actually took Tom another 3 semesters before he finally worked up the courage to ask me on a date – and with another soufflé, no less. He invited me to his apartment and cooked soufflés for us. He said he wanted to redeem himself after the earlier disaster, but I knew he was just showing off."

"One thing led to another," M. Dupain said, smiling happily, "and I asked for her hand just a year later. And here we are today!"

Chloe looked around her at the smiling faces of everyone in the room. Marinette's parents were so open, so loving toward each other and toward their daughter, making Marinette's friends feel welcome. Even making Chloe, who was all-too-aware of being the outsider in this house, feel like part of the group. Smiling as they told the story of how they met! She knew how her own parents had met, of course; half the _world_ knew the story of how her parents had met, after her Mommy had told an American tabloid right after Chloe had been born. Chloe still remembered the shame she'd felt when she and Adrien looked up the archive of that story on her tenth birthday. "So, how did you and André meet?" the interviewer had asked. And Mommy had said, "I was a fashion consultant on a film he produced, we had a few drinks, and I woke up the next morning in his trailer. I figured, maybe this one's going somewhere and he'll take me along for the ride." They'd only had the vaguest idea what that meant at the time, but Adrien had still given her a look of shock when they read that, and she had locked herself in his bathroom and refused to come out for the next three hours.

In her reverie, Chloe had missed part of the conversation, as M. and Mme Dupain-Cheng had disappeared to prepare dinner in the kitchen, leaving the three girls alone in the living room to set up for the movie.

"That was really uncalled for, Alya," Marinette was saying, though Chloe could see a teasing glint in her eye. "Just for that, _you_ can bring the pillows down from my room by yourself!"

"Well really!" Alya scoffed, stifling a giggle as she pushed herself up off the floor. "Fine, I'll get the pillows, but _you_ have to find my spare charger. I'm sure I left it somewhere in here last time I was over."

Marinette giggled. "And what are you going to do if your phone dies, hmm? What if Ladybug drops in through that window right now and says she'll give you the world's best interview, live on the Ladyblog, and your phone dies in the middle of it? What if your charger just… disappears?"

"You wouldn't!" Alya retorted in mock horror. "Ask me if I'll help you with last-minute sewing jobs _then_!"

Chloe looked between Alya and Marinette in surprise. The banter sounded so… normal between them. They were laughing and giggling like nothing was wrong. Thinking back, Chloe couldn't remember _ever_ seeing these two have a real argument. Of course, she and Sabrina had never had an argument, either, but she also couldn't remember the last time Sabrina had said anything to her like Alya and Marinette had just said to each other. Most of the time, when Chloe got angry, Sabrina would immediately apologize and try to make it right. It reminded her of nothing so much as the way her Mommy could cow her Daddy with nothing more than a look and a sharp word. How Daddy would bend over backwards to fulfill Mommy's every whim. Watching Alya and Marinette arrange the pillows on the floor in front of the television, she couldn't help but wonder, _Is this how friends are _really_ supposed to behave?_

"Marinette," Alya whined, "I'm already comfy, but I'm cold. Will you get the blankets?"

"Oh, poor dear," Marinette retorted, grabbing a blanket off the pile next to the sofa and draping it over Alya. "Is this better?" she teased.

"Much," Alya said, stifling a giggle. She pulled the plate of cookies toward herself. "Six here, so one each?" she asked, taking two.

Marinette nodded and grabbed two cookies before passing the plate over to Chloe. She looked down at the two cookies remaining and started to eat one before glancing at the other two girls. Marinette was undoing her purse to slip a cookie inside; Alya was just re-buttoning her shirt. With a start, Chloe remembered who the other cookie was for, and reached down to unclasp her bag and give Pollen the last cookie.

"Now we just need that plate of reject cookies from the bakery," Marinette said, looking around. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Wait, Marinette," Chloe said, standing up, "let me do it."


	2. Nursemaid

_AN: This happens between "Milady" and "Mind Games."_

_To Speckleflower: Well, I hope they do, considering that's the point of this series! If you've read "Tit for Tat" (particularly chapter 3), you'll remember that they have a lot of banter in there (even if Sabrina is suited up and Chloe isn't). I think my favorite bet in that story was went Chloe said she'd done her hair herself that morning and Impératrice Pourpre (Sabrina) simply replied, "I can tell." That's kind of the "end" for this story: they get to a healthier place in their relationship, even if it's not quite where Marinette and Alya are – because they aren't Marinette and Alya._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: It was certainly fun to write!_

* * *

"Chloe! Wait up!"

Chloe turned around, her hand already on the handle to the dojo's front door. She stopped, however, and turned around. Alya was just finishing pouring liquid from a sauce pan into a couple plastic containers on Master Fu's kitchen table. She dropped the pan in the kitchen sink, where Nino was already washing dishes, before giving Nino a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, babe," she told him. "I owe you a bunch!"

"Anything for you, babe," he replied, grinning and squirting water at her.

Alya picked up a tote bag and slipped her containers inside it before slinging it over her shoulder. She walked over to the door, which Chloe held open for her to leave first. Alya glanced in both directions before nodding back to Chloe, who followed her through the door.

"Thanks," Alya told her. "If we're both going to the bakery, it makes sense to walk together, doesn't it?"

"But why are you coming over today?" Chloe asked. "Weren't you and Nino planning on going to that concert downtown this evening? The first _actual_ date you've gone on since this whole mess started?"

"Yeah," Alya said, nodding. "He was disappointed, of course, but Ivan and Mylène agreed to buy the tickets off him so they wouldn't go to waste. So he's staying here to watch a movie with Adrien and Master Fu, and I'm going to play nursemaid for my bestie."

"'Nursemaid'?" Chloe echoed. "But Marinette said this morning that she wasn't really that sick. Just a stomach bug."

"My dear Mlle Bourgeois," Alya laughed, shaking her head and patting Chloe's arm affectionately, "sometimes it's not _what_ they say but _how_ they say it. Marinette sounded positively miserable on the phone this morning. And knowing my girl, she'd have to be on death's door to miss out on another chance to spend the whole day with Adrien this summer. So, I made her some homemade chicken soup in Master Fu's kitchen, and now I get to fuss over her until either she feels better or she's sick of looking at my face!"

"But, can't her parents do that?"

"Actually, both her parents _and_ my parents are too busy to do more than check in on us during the day if we are sick," Alya told her. "That's why we take care of each other. Last year my sisters got sick at daycare and Ella brought home the flu while Etta came home with the chicken pox. Of course I caught both." She grimaced. "Marinette stopped in every day for two weeks to check up on me before school, at lunch, and right after school, until the chicken pox had gone away enough for me to return to school."

"That's amazing," Chloe said, looking away. She remembered when Sabrina had gotten sick back in the spring. Chloe had called to see how she was feeling once, but never thought about doing more than that. That week she'd spent more time agonizing that her housekeeper did a worse job helping her with her hair than Sabrina did.

"It's no more than what I would do for her," Alya replied with a shrug. "What, you've never done anything like that for your friends? Sabrina? Adrien?"

"A few years ago, before he started public school, Adrien got the flu on a photo shoot and asked if I could come over to keep him company while he recovered," Chloe answered. "Daddy let me go over for the first two days, but then I got the flu from him and Daddy forbade me to go back. Since then, he really doesn't like me going near _any_ of my friends if they are sick."

Alya giggled. "It's really not that big of a deal," she told Chloe. "As long as you wash your hands all the time and try not to breathe in the germs, you'll be fine." She pulled a pump bottle out of her tote bag. "Besides, that's what hand sanitizer is for!"

When they arrived at the bakery, Alya led the way up the stairs to Marinette's room. "Marinette?" Alya called, pushing the trapdoor open and sliding her bag through the opening. "Chloe and I came to see you. I've got soup!"

Chloe heard Marinette groan from above them as she followed Alya into the room. Alya immediately went over to the bed, pulled a container of soup out of her bag, and slid it onto the shelf next to Marinette's head.

"Alya?" Marinette mumbled as she leaned her head over the edge of the bed and looked down at them. "What're you…?"

"As if I'd be anywhere else, girl," Alya replied, grinning at her. "I brought soup, and you've got both of us for company," she told her, nodding over at Chloe. "Do you want to rest some more, or have you done enough of that?"

With a grunt, Marinette pushed herself up and disappeared from view to lean against the wall. "I think I've slept enough."

"Do you want to play video games? Watch a movie?"

"My head still hurts some," Marinette answered. "Why don't you tell a story?"

"Well, you've heard all of my stories," Alya said. "Chloe?"

Chloe shrugged.

"Chloe can keep you company while I go make you some tea and get a spoon for the soup," Alya called, climbing back down the hatch and shutting it behind her.

Chloe looked around awkwardly. The room looked like Marinette had dragged herself to bed in the middle of a project the night before, with a half-sewn skirt lying in a heap on the desk.

"Chloe?"

"I'm still here."

"Can you come up here? I promise not to cough on you."

Chloe climbed up to Marinette's bed and settled in on the far end from her. She thought about all the stories she could tell, but none that would interest her. She glanced back at Marinette's expectant face.

"Let me tell you about my mother's first fashion show…"


	3. The Aftermath

_AN: This takes place right after Chapter 11 of "Mind Games" (give or take an hour or 2). If there seems to be a bit of a jump in character between this chapter and the last one, it's because I realized the chapter I was going to add between them had already been written (Chapter 3 of "Mind Games")._

_To The Keeper of the Worlds: Just from the writing, the fun part of the story hasn't even started yet!_

* * *

Queen Bee stood on top of the Raincomprixes' apartment building and rolled her shoulders to relieve some of the tension that still hadn't left her body after the fight and its aftermath. Hawk Moth's control over his minions had not been as strong during that battle as when he was manipulating a single Akuma at a time, but what they had lacked in strength the Akumas had more than compensated for with their overwhelming numbers. And that was just the first part of the fight, before they'd neutralized Catalysto. The second half, if possible, had been even worse.

For as much as she and Alya had played off their Mayura fight as no big deal, it was like trying to capture a cornered peacock. She'd fought desperately to defeat them and make her escape. It had taken far longer to come up with their eventual strategy than either had cared to admit to Ladybug and Cat Noir. Mayura had nearly kicked Queen Bee into a stalagmite before Rena Rouge tripped her up with a sliding tackle. And she would have taken off one of Rena Rouge's arms if Queen Bee hadn't pulled her out of the way at the last second with her top. The only break they had gotten in the fight was that Viperion defeated Volpina in the first five minutes of their fight so she couldn't assist Mayura.

Cleaning up after the fight had taken at least another hour as she, Rena Rouge, and Carapace organized the other heroes to escort the victims home, answered as many of their questions as they could, and avoided sharing too much information with the media sharks circling the mansion. By the time the police had finished questioning them and left the mansion, Queen Bee had been dead tired. She hadn't even felt up to commenting on Nino and Alya electing to sleep for a couple of hours in Adrien's deserted mansion before returning to their respective homes. Instead, she had simply swung away, still in costume, angling for the apartment of the one person she'd been wishing to talk to for over a month.

Queen Bee looped her top around a chimney and let herself down, coming to a stop right outside Sabrina's window. Looking through the window, despite the late hour, she saw Sabrina lying on her bed and reading a book. Queen Bee tapped on the glass, and Sabrina looked up, only to immediately jump out of bed and pull the window open.

"Chloe?" she asked in confusion as Queen Bee slid through the window and de-transformed. "What are you doing here?"

"I know it's late," Chloe said, collapsing onto Sabrina's desk chair and pulling a cookie out of her purse for Pollen and a water bottle for herself. "I only just got away. Your father was asking us an awful lot of questions we really couldn't answer."

"I understand," Sabrina told her, sitting down on the bed and pulling her knees up to her chin. "I-I was worried. Father was there the whole time. The TV showed him shielding behind his patrol car, trying to fend off Akumas with the police's new pesticide spray. I was afraid he was going to be Akumatized again. I was afraid you were going to get hurt. There were so many of them, and they just kept coming."

Chloe's eyes went wide in surprise. After watching Marinette and Alya for the last month, she'd finally realized how poorly she really had treated her so-called "friend" over the years. Half the time she'd treated Sabrina like glorified staff and some of the rest of the time like little more than a nuisance. That was how Sabrina had gotten Akumatized both times, she remembered. And yet, Sabrina had actually worried about her while she was fighting Hawk Moth and his Akumas!

Sabrina kept talking while Chloe thought silently. "I was at Mylène's house this evening," she said. "She invited me over to hang out for a while and watch a movie, but all she wanted to do was watch the news. She wouldn't say why. She was really tense. Then Nadja Chamack and her cameraman were both Akumatized on live TV and we saw Akumas flying all over the place outside her window. Mylène slammed the window shut and grabbed a flyswatter off the couch. We hid for almost two hours before the Akumas finally disappeared." Sabrina looked up at Chloe. "How did Mylène know that was going to happen? Why didn't you warn _me_?"

Chloe rolled her eyes and groaned. Clearly they would have to talk to Ivan about the importance of keeping some secrets, even from his girlfriend. She looked back at Sabrina, who was staring at her with wide eyes.

"I thought I was your friend."

Chloe sighed. "You are my friend," she said, "before this summer, the _only_ friend I really had, I think, other than Adrien. I wish I could have told you what was going to happen today – I really do! But we had to keep the plan secret so Hawk Moth couldn't find out when we were coming. I'm pretty sure I know why Mylène knew what was happening, but I can't tell you; it's not my secret to share. Honestly, she really shouldn't have known what was happening today, either. But I-I'm s-sorry you were out of the loop."

Sabrina gasped and smiled. She jumped off the bed and threw her arms around Chloe. "Thank you," she said. Chloe returned the hug and smiled.

"Now I need to get back to the hotel so I can sleep in my own bed for once," Chloe told her, glancing at Pollen, who smiled, and transforming. "It's been far too long since I even saw it, and I have no idea if Ladybug actually repaired it with Miraculous Ladybug last month. But will you come over in the morning? I promise I'll tell you all about it over breakfast!"

* * *

_If it's not clear, my take on the Sabrina/Chloe friendship in the show is that their relationship is one of pathological codependency: Sabrina sees Chloe as someone she needs to take care of and herself has a need to care for someone else; Chloe has a need for someone to take care of her because that is how her parents relate to each other and that is her only real example of what a relationship looks like. I think they both consider this to be a perfectly acceptable and genuine friendship because neither one really knows any different from personal experience. Looking at how their fathers interact, it would not surprise me to find out that they were "friends" in school the same way Chloe and Sabrina are, and that the daughters have almost exactly the same relationship today that their fathers had 20+ years earlier – hence not knowing any better._

_If Sabrina didn't actually consider Chloe to be her friend, I don't think she would have been Akumatized either time it happened, since in both "Antibug" and "Miraculer" it was because Chloe rejected her friendship or didn't want to play with her that Hawk Moth was able to use her._

_The rest of these stories show how that relationship evolves to become less pathological and more balanced, even though their relationship retains some of the codependency aspects, as seen in "Tit for Tat."_


	4. The Miraculous

_AN: This takes place a week after the Hawk Moth battle (Chapter 11 of "Mind Games")._

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: I saw that Mylène is rumored to receive the mouse miraculous, and that Ivan would be a good fit for the ox miraculous. If you look back at "Mind Games" Chapter 2 (the "training montage chapter"), Ivan received the ox miraculous and became Taureau Dechaine during the month-long gap between "Milady" and "Mind Games." Mylène then receives the mouse miraculous and becomes Multiplice shortly after the Epilogue of "Mind Games." So both of them are miraculous heroes in the "Mind Games"-verse! With where this chapter falls in the timeline, however, Mylène isn't recruited for about another month or so._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Thanks! It seemed necessary to show that Sabrina isn't entirely the same after her month of hanging out with the other girls in their class instead of Chloe, and that Chloe herself has turned a corner after experiencing a true, balanced friendship during that month with Alya and Marinette. They reconnected in the last chapter, so this is where the relationship begins to balance._

* * *

Sabrina plastered the best smile she could muster on her face as she finished a bite of her pastry. She and Chloe were sitting in the kitchenette of Chloe's penthouse and eating breakfast. Or Sabrina was eating while Chloe continued to regale her with stories from her summer of heroic adventures, her eggs and fruit forgotten on the plate.

"You have no idea what it was like," Chloe told her, leaning in conspiratorially. "Monsieur Pigeon sent a wave of birds directly at my head – and you know how I hate birds. Ugh! What if they ruined my hair!? So I threw my top and swung around one of the stalagmites while the birds were following me, and dropped to the ground at the last minute so they flew past me and straight into Volpina. Ha! You should have heard Lila scream! And so while the birds were all picking themselves out of Volpina's hair and she was quivering on the ground, I used Venom on Monsieur Pigeon and released his Akuma."

"That sounds amazing!" Sabrina said. _Just as exciting the fifth time…_

Perhaps she had thought that a little too loud, because Chloe took a closer look at her face and frowned.

"I'm sorry, Chloe!" Sabrina squeaked. "I really am! It really is exciting listening to you talk about the Hawk Moth fight over breakfast!" She nodded as earnestly as she could for emphasis. "What happened next? Was that when you saved King Monkey from a rhinoceros?"

Chloe sighed. "I'm sorry for bringing it up all the time," she finally admitted. "It's too bad you don't have your own hero stories to tell. Or–" she grinned mischievously "–at least you don't have any _yet_." She pulled a black jewelry box with a red pattern etched into the top out of her purse and held it out to Sabrina. Sabrina recognized it as a twin of the one Ladybug sometimes brought to Chloe. Pollen slipped out of the purse at the same time and flew up to sit on Chloe's shoulder, grinning happily.

Sabrina gasped in shock, her eyes darting back and forth between the eager look on Chloe's face and the box she held in her hand.

"Sabrina Raincomprix," Chloe said formally, "will you accept the power of the Butterfly Miraculous and swear to use it only for good?"

Sabrina nodded enthusiastically. "But can you give this to me? What about Ladybug?"

"I asked her last night and she said she thought you would be a great fit!" Chloe assured her.

Sabrina snatched the box out of Chloe's hand and opened it up. Inside, she saw a small round purple brooch with four slender grey wings protruding in opposite directions to form an "X" shape. Before she could process what she held, however, the brooch emitted a bright beam of violet light and the silver wings receded into it as the light consolidated into a small purple creature. Sabrina jumped in surprise, but quickly realized that this must be the Kwami. Her eyes darted back to Pollen, who had jumped off Chloe's shoulder and was swinging through the air hand in hand with the new Kwami, both of them giggling in delight. Sabrina smiled at their antics before turning back to the miraculous.

Examining the brooch more closely, however, Sabrina frowned. She had seen that pattern before. Each time she had been Akumatized, she had seen the tiniest glimpse of the man behind the power: Hawk Moth. Even though she couldn't remember what she had become or what the Akuma had forced her to do, she could remember _him_. His laughter had haunted her subconscious for days afterward. He still wore this brooch in her nightmares. This was _Hawk Moth_'s miraculous! The Kwami frolicking around the room with Pollen was _Hawk Moth_'s Kwami! _He_ had enabled Hawk Moth to terrorize Paris, to turn Sabrina against her friends!

"Sabrina?" Chloe said, hesitantly. "Everything okay there, sweetie?"

"This… this is Hawk Moth's miraculous." Sabrina couldn't take her eyes off the brooch, afraid an Akuma would suddenly manifest out of thin air and rob her of her free will. "Why would you give this to me?"

"Oh…" Chloe let out a breath. "Listen, Sabrina, the miraculous themselves aren't inherently evil. They can be turned to evil purposes, but they are just tools. What Hawk Moth did to you and me and so many other people was absolutely evil. But that doesn't mean his miraculous is evil, or that the Kwami who powers the miraculous is evil – Nooroo? You should probably explain this to her. I think I'm just making a mess of it."

Sabrina finally looked away from the miraculous, at the Kwami that Chloe had called "Nooroo." Nooroo fluttered over to them from the other side of the room, Pollen trailing behind him at a distance.

"I can sense your fear, Mistress," Nooroo began, wringing his hands in front of him. "My old Master was a strong-willed, hard man. He bent and twisted my power for his own purposes. He forced people to accept his power, to do his bidding, just as he forced me to obey him." Pollen put a hand on Nooroo's shoulder at that. "I am ashamed by what my old Master did. Every time my power was used for evil, it hurt me in a way that other Kwamis, who do not share my empathic ability, can only imagine."

Sabrina was silent as she listened to the Kwami speak. So the Kwami was as much a slave to Hawk Moth as she herself had been while Akumatized! She could feel the pain in his voice as he spoke of Hawk Moth's actions.

Nooroo looked up at Sabrina with a hopeful expression. "But I sense something different in you, Mistress," he told her. "I sense a care and concern for others in you that my old Master never had. I sense that you will only use the miraculous to help people. And I can guide you to do it… if you will accept me."

Sabrina looked away from the Kwami, considering the miraculous in her hands. She didn't remember removing it from the box. It felt heavier than she had expected it to for such a small thing. "I don't know," she finally said. "I don't want to force my will on _anyone_, the way that Hawk Moth subjected us to his will."

"Please," scoffed Pollen indignantly, folding her arms. "As if Nooroo could _subject_ anyone! _I_'m the Kwami of Subjection around here."

"I'm sorry?" Chloe asked, whipping around to stare at her Kwami in surprise.

"Why else do you think your power allows you to _subject_ people by keeping them immobilized, my _Queen_?" Pollen asked pointedly.

"Oh. I… hadn't thought about it that way."

"Pollen is right," Nooroo said, turning away from their quiet bickering and toward Sabrina. "Subjecting others and bending them to your will is not the primary purpose of my miraculous. I am the Kwami of Transmission: I transmit power to others that they can use for good. In times past, the Ladybug and Cat Noir would use my power to give themselves abilities they needed in the moment, or else would use me to create 'helper-heroes' to assist them and their allies on their missions. It is only evil holders like Hawk Moth who have twisted that noble purpose to evil by bending people to do their bidding."

"But Hawk Moth still could hurt his victims," Sabrina objected. "It was on the Ladyblog. He could make them feel like their head was about to explode! I-I wouldn't want to do that to anyone."

Nooroo put a hand on the miraculous in Sabrina's hand. "It has been necessary even for good users to rein in a helper who tried to use my power to hurt others," he told her sadly. "It is an unfortunate side effect of giving such abilities to the inexperienced. But if you choose your helpers wisely, you will never have to use that ability. Please give me an opportunity to do good and help people, Mistress."

Sabrina sighed and looked from the miraculous to the pleading face of the Kwami. "Very well," Sabrina whispered. "I accept. What do I do now?"

"Thank you, Mistress," Nooroo said, sighing in relief. "The first thing to do is affix the brooch to your shirt so you do not lose it. It will remain active as long as you are holding it unless you renounce me, but if you set it down it will return to its inactive state and I will disappear back into it."

"Got it," Sabrina said, clasping the brooch to her shirt. "What's next?"

"The transformation phrase is 'Wings rise,'" Nooroo told her. "When you are ready to de-transform, you will say 'Wings fall.'"

"Hmm, that doesn't quite sound right," Sabrina said, putting a hand to her chin. "It sounds short, like something is missing."

"My old Master thought the same," Nooroo replied, grimacing. He shuddered. "He always said '_Dark_ Wings rise.'"

Sabrina felt a shudder run down her spine on hearing the phrase. "Ooh, I don't like that, either. What if I say 'Bright' instead?"

"That… that would be acceptable, Mistress," Nooroo answered, his wings fluttering a little more.

"But what about the suit?" Sabrina asked. "I don't want to look like Hawk Moth!"

"Do not worry about that, Mistress," Nooroo told her. "The magic of the miraculous adapts the suit to the user. You are nothing like Hawk Moth, and so you shall look nothing like him, either."

"Should we try it?" Sabrina asked, smiling for the Kwami. When he nodded enthusiastically, she stood up from the table and said, "Nooroo? Bright wings rise!"

The sensation was unlike anything Sabrina had felt before. One moment she was standing beside the table in Chloe's kitchenette, feeling a little silly, and the next she was engulfed in lavender light. She felt boundless energy flowing through her body, emanating outward from the buttonhole in which she had placed the miraculous. Her blouse, skirt, and leggings were suddenly replaced by a new outfit that expanded out from the miraculous to cover her whole body. Something long and thin appeared next to her hand, and she grabbed onto it by instinct. It was a violet cane.

"Sabrina?" Chloe called from the other side of the penthouse, stopping her tug-of-war match with Pollen and allowing the Kwami to pull the purse out of her hands.

"Yes?" Sabrina called back. She was taken aback by the tone of her voice. It still sounded exactly like her, but somehow… different: stronger, more confident. "Over here!"

Chloe looked at her and said, "Wow, sweetie, you look… you look great!"

"How do I look?" she asked, holding her arms out in front of herself. "Please don't tell me I look like Hawk Moth!"

"Sweetie, you definitely don't look anything like Hawk Moth!" Chloe grinned and waved for Sabrina to come over and stand in front of the full-length mirror. "What do you think?"

"I – wow," she finally managed. She was wearing a long-sleeved dress of light purple with a high neckline and sleeves that transitioned seamlessly into full-arm-length gloves. The miraculous, with its wings outstretched, clasped the front of her dress in the middle of her chest. To one side, almost as a badge, was a small image of a lavender butterfly set within a white field. The dress was cinched tight with a belt just above where it flared out wide at her hips to end just below her knees. Underneath the dress she wore silver leggings. Her hair was pulled back in a silver headband and she had a silver mask with her eyeglass lenses built in covering the top half of her face. "I _definitely_ don't look like Hawk Moth! Thank you! For choosing me, I mean," she said, throwing her arms around Chloe, who hugged her back.

"So what are you going to call yourself?" Chloe asked, picking at a stray hair that had come out of Sabrina's headband before she transformed.

"I-I hadn't thought about that," Sabrina admitted. "Nooroo didn't say. Do I have to call myself Hawk Moth?"

"Certainly not!" Pollen cried out indignantly, popping out of Chloe's ponytail. She spat. "May that name live on in infamy! No, most miraculous holders choose their own name," she explained. "Only the names of Ladybug and Cat Noir are truly carried down from generation to generation. They are, after all, the leaders to whom the other holders owe their allegiance!"

"So I guess you can pick your own name," Chloe shrugged.

Sabrina thought for a minute, looking around the room for inspiration. "You know," she began, "I've always liked the Purple Emperor Butterfly. And anyway, it seems appropriate, somehow: _you_ are 'Queen' Bee, so perhaps _I_ should be 'Impératrice' Pourpre!"


	5. Impératrice Pourpre

_AN: This takes place during the month-long gap between chapter 11 and the Epilogue of "Mind Games," after the incident described in chapter 4 of "Tit for Tat" and a week or so before the Epilogue._

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: Have they confirmed which of Marinette's friends receive which of the miraculous? I've seen some speculation, but nothing official. Either way, I like the way I have it, with Sabrina receiving and "redeeming" the butterfly miraculous, and not just because I know exactly what powers it grants! Perhaps in the future she will use both the butterfly and dog miraculous simultaneously…_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: I'm glad you're enjoying the emotional ties between them; that's the focus for the next couple chapters. I have to admit, I didn't understand a thing you said from "The Color Conquering Kinng Haki" onward! Unfortunately, the only anime I'm really familiar with is _Rurouni Kenshin_._

_To Speckleflower: Thanks! Sabrina (at least this version of her) is a lot of fun to write. I changed the transformation phrase in "Tit for Tat" chapter 4, and then gave a brief explanation in a note on chapter 5. This story gave a good opportunity to go into more detail on that, and especially how Hawk Moth affected Nooroo – and creating more of a distinction between Hawk Moth and Impératrice Pourpre._

* * *

"Aaah!"

Chloe jumped at the scream and looked over at the couch just in time to see Sabrina disappear over the side and hit the floor with a _thump_. Chloe was frozen in place for a moment, unsure what to do. Then a look at the shock in the faces of Pollen and Nooroo, both of whom had jumped off the table and were flying in agitated circles around the room, had Chloe springing from her chair and running over to the couch. Sabrina was still lying on her side on the floor, head in her hands, moaning and writhing in pain. Chloe's hand hovered over Sabrina's shoulder, but she hesitated to touch her.

"Nooroo?" she called, glancing over at the purple Kwami who had come to rest on the couch arm. "Do you know what's going on?"

Nooroo hung his head in shame. "This sometimes happens to my masters when the emotions are too strong for them," he said sadly. "The miraculous allows my Mistress to sense emotions around her. Normally the emotions are muted significantly when she isn't transformed, however. For her to feel it this strongly without being transformed… these emotions must be strong indeed."

Chloe looked back down at Sabrina, who still seemed lost in a world of pain, writhing on the floor with her eyes scrunched shut. "What do we do?"

"Mistress needs to find her own emotional center, separate from the foreign emotions," Nooroo explained. "Only by finding her own center can she push the foreign emotions away enough to recognize and trace them."

Chloe put her hand on Sabrina's shoulder, at which the other girl immediately stopped moving, though she didn't open her eyes and her breathing continued to race. "You're the expert here. How does she do that?"

Nooroo dropped down to hover right in front of Sabrina's face. "Mistress, take a deep breath in. Now hold it for ten seconds. Hold it… and then let it out slowly. And take another deep breath… and hold it in. Now release it slowly through your mouth. Breathe in through your nose… and out through your mouth. You are on your own little island, with the waves crashing against it, but the waves cannot reach you. You feel the spray on your face and taste the salty air, but your island is a rock, unmoved in the center of the storm." He turned to Chloe and said, "It would help her if you rub her back."

"Oh, um, right," Chloe said, putting her hand on Sabrina's back and moving it in circles awkwardly.

Sabrina's breathing slowed and she rolled onto her back. Chloe moved her hand to Sabrina's shoulder. Slowly, Sabrina opened her eyes and sat up. "Thanks," she whispered. "There's just so much… I couldn't make sense of it."

"Can you find the strongest emotional center and see what's happening?" Nooroo asked, hovering in front of Sabrina's face.

Sabrina closed her eyes and scrunched her eyelids shut in concentration. "Yes… I can see – Nooroo! Bright wings rise!" The Kwami had no time to protest before being sucked into the miraculous. Almost before her transformation had finished, Impératrice Pourpre snatched a butterfly from the cage on the coffee table, cupped her hands around it, and all-but-threw it at Chloe.

As the Akuma entered Chloe's ponytail holder, she felt a mental connection form between herself and Impératrice Pourpre. She had been Akumatized and nearly-Akumatized often enough by Hawk Moth to recognize the feeling, but this time it felt different. It felt… warm and friendly and inviting.

"Sorry, Chloe," Impératrice Pourpre told her hurriedly, "but there's no time. I need you to be the Worker Bee. Will you do it?"

"As if you have to ask," Chloe answered with a grin, and she was covered in purple smoke. She felt her shoulders pop and stretch as a pair of wings grew out of them, and flexed her arm muscles, which suddenly felt stronger than steel. Pollen slipped into a pouch that had appeared on her belt. "Where do I go and what do I do?"

"You are going straight up," Impératrice Pourpre replied. "And you need to hurry; I'll explain on the way."

"Right," Chloe – Worker Bee – said, running through the balcony door and jumping off. She dropped a meter before her wings kicked in, but felt them flutter to either side and hold her hovering in place. She looked up into the sky and pushed herself upward, holding her hands in front of her face to cut through the wind, rocketing through the air, higher and higher into the sky. She scanned the sky around her as she ascended, looking for some sign of what had scared Sabrina so badly, before a streak of flame from the east caught her eye.

"I take it this has something to do with the fireball I'm looking at?" Worker Bee asked.

"Yes," Impératrice Pourpre answered through their connection. "That jetliner had three of its engines blow out. You need to catch it and slow its descent before it crashes."

"And that's why I couldn't just do this as Queen Bee," Worker Bee observed, nodding in understanding. "Let's see what we can do."

Worker Bee pushed her wings to their limit, shooting upward to reach the plane moments later. She grabbed onto the nose of the plane, squeezing her fingers into the tiny slits between the plates. Looking through the windows into the cockpit, she could see sheer terror mingled with resignation on the pilots' faces as they pulled back on their sticks in a desperate attempt to steady the plane and control its descent. She could see immediately what the problem was: two engines on the left side of the plane and one on the right had all exploded, and the remaining engine was struggling and failing to maintain lift. She knocked on the cockpit window to get the pilot's attention and then pointed at the left wing. The pilot acknowledged her, and Worker Bee carefully crawled across the plane's body to that wing.

Once she had reached the wing, she positioned herself between the two destroyed engines, squeezed her fingertips into the crevices between the metal plates, braced her arms, and pushed up against the wing as hard as she could, pumping her wings desperately against the wind whipping around her, threatening to tear her off the plane.

"Come on, come on," she heard Impératrice Pourpre mutter through their connection. "Just a little more… You've almost got it…"

Worker Bee grunted and pushed harder, willing her wings to flap as hard as they possibly could. A primal shout escaped her lungs with the effort, and just when it felt as though her wings were about to tear themselves from her back, she felt the plane's descent slow ever so gradually as its nose tilted upward. She continued to push with every muscle she had, and finally opened her eyes to see that they were just above the treetops, on a direct line with a runway at the airport. She could see fire trucks grouped on the far end of the runway, waiting for the plane to land. She tightened her grip on the wing reflexively as the ground came up to meet her.

"Taureau Dechaine and Pegasus are with the fire trucks to help get people off the plane," Impératrice Pourpre told her. "Just hold on for one more minute and it'll all be over."

"You… you got it, sweetie," Worker Bee muttered, her tenuous grip starting to loosen from exhaustion. At that moment the plane's landing gear made contact with the runway and jostled Worker Bee, who lost her grip on the wing and fell off. She hit the ground and rolled, narrowly avoiding the wheels on the plane's tail. The plane itself started to buck at the sudden change in lift, fishtailing wildly as the pilots tried to keep it steady and slow it down.

"Chloe!" shouted Impératrice Pourpre desperately through their connection, jolting Worker Bee back to alertness. She was about to call on Pollen to try to slow the plane further when suddenly, from the end of the runway, Worker Bee heard another sound, like music to her ears.

"Stampede!"

She looked over just in time to see Taureau Dechaine charge out of the line of firefighters, race under the plane's nose, and spin around the front landing gear. He grabbed the rear landing gear in both hands and set his horns against the strut, bracing his legs against the ground and roaring as he did so. The wheels screeched and protested against the added force, but ever so slowly the large plane ground to a halt, meters from the line of emergency vehicles.

Worker Bee rolled over onto her back and collapsed as the fire trucks raced forward to extinguish the still-smoldering fires under the plane's wings. She laid her head back and closed her eyes as purple smoke filled her vision.

* * *

"Chloe…"

Chloe squeezed her eyes shut tighter. The voices around her grew more insistent.

"Chloe!"

She felt someone grab her shoulder and shake it gently. Small hands poked her cheek. She groaned and waved a hand to swat them away.

"C'mon, Chloe," the voice said insistently. "You can't just lie here on the runway all day."

"Just five more minutes," she mumbled.

"By then this portal will have closed and you'll be on your own to get back to your penthouse, Chloe," the voice told her.

"Wait…" Chloe started, opening her eyes and sitting up straight. Pollen was hovering anxiously in front of her face, but beyond her she saw – "Pegasus?"

"The one and only," Pegasus replied, grinning at her. "You gave all of us a scare when you fell off the plane. I thought Impératrice Pourpre was going to have an aneurism when you passed out."

"I'm sorry," Chloe told him. She almost missed the surprised expression on his face when she looked down at the ground around her. "I didn't mean to scare everyone like that."

"It's all fine," Taureau Dechaine replied, reaching down and pulling her to her feet with one massive hand. "We're just glad to see you in one piece. Now let's get you home."

Chloe nodded and stumbled forward, almost collapsing through the portal that Pegasus had opened right in front of her. She nearly fell to the floor before Sabrina caught her in her arms and guided her to the couch.

"Thanks," Chloe mumbled, collapsing onto the couch. Pollen curled up on the arm rest next to her head.

"Thank _you_," Sabrina replied, draping a blanket over her. "I had no other idea what to do, and you saved those people."

"_You_ saved them; I just helped," Chloe told her. "And I'm sorry for worrying you."

Sabrina wiped a couple tears from her eyes. "I was just afraid I'd killed my best friend."

"Not dead, though I _am_ dead tired."

"Rest," Sabrina ordered, getting up and moving to the table. "We can finish our summer homework later."


	6. The Fight

_AN: This happens the same day as the Epilogue to "Mind Games," before Epilogue Part 2. If you need a refresher, Sabrina had told Chloe about a rumor that all the heroes knew each other's identities, and Chloe and Alya decided that since Marinette and Adrien started dating at the same time that Ladybug and Cat Noir became a couple, that could clue someone in to their secret identities, especially since Chloe had been so possessive of Adrien up to that point. It's explained fully in the Epilogue to "Mind Games."_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: Thanks! I prefer writing "action" scenes, but this story hasn't had too many of those. On the subject of anime, I'll have to give that some thought. A future story is going to explore other miraculous sets, so perhaps the "warrior's spirit" could appear in there. Otherwise, I already hinted at magic, so…_

* * *

"Chloe, what you did today was uncalled for." Sabrina gasped and nearly covered her mouth with her hand. Where had that come from? When had she ever spoken to Chloe that way before? Nevertheless, feeling Nooroo's weight in her purse gave steel to Sabrina's spine and she plunged on. "You shouldn't have said those things to Marinette today."

"Oh, really?" Chloe responded, arching an eyebrow at her and scowling. Sabrina flinched. She knew what that look meant. Chloe was not happy, and she was seconds away from a tantrum. Under ordinary circumstances, that was Sabrina's cue to hide the breakables, duck for cover, and stay out of the way until the episode had passed. But these weren't ordinary circumstances.

Someone needed to call Chloe out for her cruel words.

"Yes, really," Sabrina retorted, folding her arms and looking her best friend in the face. "Marinette is the sweetest girl in our class, and you nearly drove her to tears before History this morning."

"What, you don't think I was even a _little_ bit justified in what I said?" Chloe huffed, glowering ominously.

Sabrina had come too far to back down now, even though she could feel Chloe's anguish building through the miraculous brooch hidden under her sweater. _If I were Hawk Moth, I could Akumatize her right now without breaking a sweat_, she thought darkly, before banishing the thought in disgust.

"No," she told Chloe instead, "I don't think you were even the _teeniest_ bit justified to call Marinette a slut in front of the whole class. It's been obvious to everyone for years that they both liked each other. And if you had paid any attention at all to her over the last two years, you would know what everyone else already knows about her: she doesn't need Adrien's contacts in the fashion industry half as much as his fashion house needs her talent, now that his father is out of the picture and the company's in shambles."

"But she stole my Adrikins from me!" Chloe pouted.

"He was never _yours_ in the first place!" Sabrina retorted. "And anyways, didn't you admit just last week that Adrien has been happier in the two months with Marinette than you'd seen him at any time since his mother disappeared? Weren't you saying the week before that he deserves every bit of happiness he can get, after watching his father arrested before his eyes?" _Though _how_ he could have seen it, when Father said only Ladybug and Cat Noir were actually there…_ "If you can be that cruel to your oldest friend and to his girlfriend, who is one of the sweetest and kindest people I know, I-I don't think we can be friends anymore."

Chloe gave her a withering look, which Sabrina met without flinching, before Chloe's eyes abruptly softened. She chuckled ruefully and cracked a tiny smile. "Ladybug will be happy to know we chose you well to be a miraculous holder."

_What?_ Sabrina wondered in bewilderment. "Didn't you listen to a word I just said?"

"Of course I did," Chloe said, dropping onto her couch with a sigh. Just from that act, she looked far wearier and more haggard than Sabrina had ever seen her. Sabrina suddenly realized that the anguish and pain she'd been feeling through the miraculous from Chloe all day wasn't just about Adrien dating Marinette.

Chloe let out a breath before looking back up at Sabrina, who still had not moved. "I'm pretty sure I made a huge mistake, Sabrina," she finally said, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize how much people would sneer at you for what _I_ said today. I never wanted _you_ to suffer for _my_ actions."

"Shouldn't you be apologizing to Marinette?" Sabrina retorted tersely. "_She_'s the one you hurt, not me. You should have felt the shame, embarrassment, and anger rolling off of her in waves all day today. It was so bad in first period I spent 20 minutes working through my breathing exercises with Nooroo massaging my palm under the desk before I could tune her emotions out well enough to concentrate on the lesson. _I_'m going to need to copy _your_ History notes for a change, by the way. You did take notes today, right?"

Chloe snagged her backpack off the floor and pulled out a notebook. "Here," she said, handing it over. "I'm sorry about that, too. I was so wrapped up in my own discomfort that I didn't notice how badly it was affecting you."

"Thanks, but you still haven't answered my first question," Sabrina told her. "Shouldn't you apologize to Marinette? We're lucky you defeated Hawk Moth and took his miraculous this summer; with all the negative emotions she was feeling, I hate to think what would have happened if he had Akumatized Marinette today."

Chloe suddenly burst out laughing. "You – you," she wheezed before catching her breath for a moment, "You have no _idea_ just how right that statement is!"

Sabrina furrowed her brow in confusion as Chloe resumed her laughing. She'd missed the joke, and clearly Chloe wasn't going to fill her in. She waited a moment for Chloe's laughing to slow down before pressing on. "So… Marinette?"

Chloe sighed, pushed herself up off the couch, and walked to the kitchenette to pour herself a glass of water. "Marinette," she agreed after draining her cup in one long swallow. "Tonight's my patrol night, so I'll stop and talk to her to apologize before patrol. But first, will _you_ forgive me?"

Sabrina sighed and looked around the room, anywhere but at Chloe's surprisingly-earnest face. Focusing with all her might on the power of her miraculous, she could sense Chloe's emotions easily at such close range: she felt hurt, sadness, and guilt, but she was also being sincere in her repentance right now. Finally, Sabrina looked back at her and nodded. "Yes, I forgive you."

Chloe crossed the room and hugged her. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome," Sabrina answered, returning the embrace. "But one of these days, you'll have to explain what was going through your mind today."

"One of these days," Chloe agreed. "But for now… Pollen, Buzz on!"

Sabrina shaded her eyes from the brilliant yellow light inches from her face and only looked back after the light had faded.

"Are you still up to back us up tonight?" Queen Bee asked.

"Of course!" Sabrina assured her with a smile. "Nooroo says that every Akuma I put to good use helps ease a little bit of the pain he feels at having had his power bent to evil for so long. And by my estimate, I've got a _lot_ of butterflies to go before his pain is completely gone again!"

"Well, let's see if Ladybug and I give you an occasion to ease his pain some tonight," Queen Bee said, grinning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find one of my other best friends and give her the biggest apology imaginable!"

Sabrina smiled and waved as Queen Bee jumped backward off her balcony and launched her top to loop it around a window bar. However, as she packed up her bags to return to her own apartment for the night, she started in confusion. _Wait, since when is _Marinette_ one of Chloe's best friends?_


	7. The Heroes of Paris

_AN: This takes place shortly after "Running out of Time." There are a few Chloe/Marinette scenes in that story that show how their friendship progressed following "Mind Games." There is one chapter left after this one._

_To The Keeper of Worlds: I assume you mean the fight between Marinette and Chloe which incited the fight between Chloe and Sabrina. If you look back at the Epilogue to "Mind Games," this isn't a real fight (even though Marinette doesn't know that at the time). Marinette and Chloe talked through the Adrien situation in chapter 3 of that story, and Chloe essentially gave them her "blessing." This fight is completely staged by Chloe and Alya as a way to keep anyone else from making the connection that all of the heroes had made: the reason Marinette and Adrien started dating around the same time that Ladybug and Cat Noir started dating is because they _are_ Ladybug and Cat Noir. But the other two didn't warn Marinette and Adrien about it so their reactions to the "fight" would be genuine. _

* * *

"Why are we at Adrien's mansion?" Sabrina asked as Chloe typed in a security code on the keypad next to the buzzer. "He's hardly ever here anymore. If you want to see him, shouldn't we check at Marinette's?"

"Ordinarily, yes," Chloe agreed, "but I happen to know that they are going to be here today. And anyways, we're not strictly here to visit Adrien."

"We're at Adrien's house, but we're not here to visit Adrien?" Sabrina echoed, nonplussed. Chloe had been acting strange all day. At school she'd been practically bouncing with excitement; Sabrina had almost had to shove her fist in her mouth to keep herself from screaming in delight at the waves of excitement and anticipation she had been picking up from Chloe through her miraculous. Every time she'd asked Chloe for an explanation, she'd simply given her an enigmatic smile and said, "You'll find out after school."

Sabrina looked around the manicured front lawn. "You do realize that going to Adrien's house really isn't that exciting, right? I've been here before."

"Not where we're going…" Chloe replied in a singsong voice. She led them up the front steps and typed in another code on the front door, which unlocked to admit them to the large entry foyer. Chloe walked straight across the entryway and up the steps to the door that Sabrina knew had led to M. Agreste's office. She pushed it open and led Sabrina inside. It didn't look like Adrien was using his father's old office that much; most of the furnishings looked identical to the time she, Chloe, and Adrien had snuck into the office years earlier looking for his father's sketchpad, one of the few times Chloe had brought her along to the Agreste mansion.

Chloe ignored the rest of the office and walked straight to the portrait that Sabrina recognized as showing Adrien's mother. And then Chloe pressed a handful of spots on the painting, twisted a peacock-fan brooch, and stepped back to stand next to Sabrina. Sabrina jumped as a circle of light appeared in the floor surrounding them and started retracting into the floor, drawing them down with it. She looked over at Chloe in confusion, only to see Chloe watching her reaction and grinning.

"Pollen, Buzz on," Chloe said, and Sabrina covered her eyes against the brilliant glow of her transformation. "You should probably do the same now, before we're all the way down."

Resigning herself to staying in the dark a little longer, Sabrina said, "Nooroo, Bright wings rise," and transformed herself.

In the moment it took for her transformation to finish, the glass elevator had dropped low enough for Impératrice Pourpre to see that they were in a massive underground cavern, lit from above with natural light that allowed a thick carpet of grass and wildflowers to grow. In the dim light of the cavern, she could just make out translucent wings fluttering against the grass, refracting the light in all different directions.

"Are those… butterflies down there?" she asked, glancing over at Queen Bee.

Queen Bee nodded. "They were bred down here originally," she explained. "We haven't done anything with them, so they've just gone wild. Of course, there also hasn't a butterfly miraculous holder down here to use them for a while."

Impératrice Pourpre narrowed her eyes as she looked around the cavern. "We're in a secret cave underneath the Agreste mansion that just _happens_ to be filled with specially-bred butterflies?" she asked. "This is Hawk Moth's lair, isn't it?"

"This _was_ Hawk Moth's lair," Queen Bee corrected her. "Now that he's been arrested and is out of the picture, it's the headquarters for the Heroes of Paris."

"You're meeting down here, where Hawk Moth terrorized Paris from?"

"_We_'re meeting down here." Queen Bee broke into a wide grin. "That's the reason I brought you here today: we decided to bring you in as a full member of the team."

"Really? That's amazing!" Impératrice Pourpre gushed. "Wait, do you mean I wasn't a real hero before now?"

Queen Bee giggled. "Of course you were," she answered. "But we – Ladybug and Cat Noir, along with Rena Rouge, Carapace, and I – decided after the Hawk Moth fight that if we're going to bring new heroes into our group, we need to make sure they are fully ready. So we've paired you and Multiplice and Ryoku up with some of the more experienced heroes for patrols the last few months so you could get a feel for it: how we work, what we do, that sort of thing."

"I understand," Impératrice Pourpre said. She looked around the cave. "So am I the only one?"

"You've had your miraculous longer than Multiplice or Ryoku, so for now yes. Plus there was that plane incident over the summer."

"How many full members are there?" Impératrice Pourpre asked as they stepped out of the elevator.

"You will be number 10," Queen Bee told her. "We have 3 part-members with Multiplice, Ryoku, and the Owl, but between you and me, I don't think the Owl's ever going to be a _full_ member. Cat Noir was about ready to take away King Monkey's miraculous when he found out what he'd done!"

Queen Bee indicated for Impératrice Pourpre to follow her toward a recessed grotto. When they stepped inside, Impératrice Pourpre saw what she recognized as a cryogenic chamber, with an ornate phonograph sitting in front of it on a table. There was nothing else in the grotto. She turned and gave Queen Bee a questioning look.

"The phonograph holds all the unassigned miraculous," she explained. "Ladybug decided to keep them close when the old Guardian retired and passed the Box to her. And this–" she indicated the cryogenic chamber "–was here already when we took it over from Hawk Moth."

Impératrice Pourpre stepped forward and looked into the glass chamber, wondering what – or who – could be inside. She jumped back with a start when she recognized the face inside. She had seen this face in portraits for years, but it had been a long time since she'd met her in person. "Mme Agreste? Adrien's mother? But–?"

"Why is she here?" supplied Queen Bee. "Why did we leave her here?"

"Well, yes."

"Turns out, Hawk Moth's whole plan was to bring her back, but he failed – or the price was too high. Ladybug hasn't been too clear on what really happened when they defeated him. But she and the old Guardian have been trying to revive her for months. And as for _why_–" Queen Bee opened the phonograph and showed Impératrice Pourpre a peacock-fan brooch she recognized from the portrait in M. Agreste's office. "She was a miraculous holder. That's also why Adrien insisted on keeping her portrait as the entrance to our headquarters."

"So Adrien _does_ know we're down here."

She couldn't miss the Cheshire grin on Queen Bee's face as she answered, "He should; it was his idea in the first place!"

"The dragon and mouse miraculous are both here right now," Impératrice Pourpre observed pointing down at the rows of open drawers on the phonograph. "Multiplice and Ryoku don't hold onto their miraculous?"

"Only the full members get to keep their miraculous on them at all times," Queen Bee explained.

"What about me?"

"You're the exception," Queen Bee told her. "Pegasus set up an alert system for us, but your miraculous makes you your _own_ alert system, so we decided to let you keep it. But come on, we're late to the meeting."

Impératrice Pourpre hurried to follow Queen Bee out of the grotto toward the large black doors on the opposite end of the cave. Something wasn't quite adding up. Adrien had suggested that the heroes should use his father's old lair for their headquarters. But according to her father, he hadn't been seen anywhere near the mansion during the final Hawk Moth battle, so he shouldn't have known anything about the lair. And yet, Adrien seemed to know everything there was to know about Hawk Moth and the Heroes.

"Adrien's a hero, isn't he?"

Queen Bee stopped with her hand on the door handle. "That took you a lot less time than I expected," she answered with a grin, before pushing the door open.

"That means he's got to be Cat Noir."

"How do you figure that?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? At least to me. You said he witnessed his father's arrest personally, but _my_ father was the one who arrested him. And Father told me that only Ladybug and Cat Noir were there," she answered. "And if Adrien is Cat Noir, then that means Ladybug has to be–"

"Me!" called Ladybug from across the nearly-deserted room. She sat at the far end of a long table Impératrice Pourpre recognized from Adrien's dining room, with Cat Noir next to her. Rena Rouge and Carapace sat together a little farther down the table. The remainder of the chairs were empty. "I knew you were quick!" Ladybug smiled, indicating for Queen Bee and Impératrice Pourpre to take the seats opposite Carapace and Rena Rouge.

As she was taking her seat, Impératrice Pourpre heard Rena Rouge whisper to Carapace, "Guess you owe me a date tonight after all, babe!"

* * *

"So when you attacked Marinette on the first day of school," Sabrina began as they walked down the front steps of the mansion two hours later, "You were really attacking…?"

"Yeah," Chloe grimaced. "It was the only thing we could think of to keep their secret."

"And yet she's still friends with you."

"What can I say? Our Ladybug is one of a kind!"


	8. Bugs Stick Together

_AN: This takes place a few weeks before Chapter 1 of "Tit for Tat."_

_To GuenZhenXuan2020: This is the last chapter for "Bugs Have to Stick Together." I am going to finish up "Running out of Time" and publish that around the beginning of February. After that I'm working on about 5 more story ideas, most of which will continue the "Lynchpin Arc" that began in "Tit for Tat," but I have no idea when they will be published._

_To Speckleflower: Thanks! Normally when I'm writing dialogue like that I have a goal I need to get to (information, character, etc.), and then the trick is to flesh out everything that leads up to that goal. I tried to plant some seeds for how Sabrina figured it out fairly early (chapters 3 and 6) so that it wouldn't be coming completely out of nowhere when she puts all the pieces together. Sometimes making the dialogue flow just takes reading through it about 8 times to catch all the issues!_

_To The Keeper of Worlds: I don't blame you; it's a lot to keep track of. I'm not sure where I'm going to have Marinette and Chloe interact again after "Tit for Tat" (chronologically; Chloe plays a key role in "Running out of Time," but that's set before "Tit for Tat"). But Chloe and Sabrina are definitely not done!_

* * *

"Marinette! I didn't expect to see you today!"

"Oh, hi, Chloe!" Marinette called, waving across the lobby to where Chloe and Sabrina were just getting off the elevator. "Agreste is planning to bring a matching dress and suit pair to Le Grand Paris' first Fashion Week Formalwear Show, and I thought I'd go straight to the source to look for inspiration."

"Adrien is really pushing you lately, isn't he?" Chloe clucked. "Do I need to talk to that boy about running you ragged so much?"

Marinette giggled as Sabrina smiled. "You know, I don't think he's quite over the _last_ time you gave him a talking to, Chlo!" Sabrina laughed at that. "Besides, this isn't actually from Adrien; my mentor at Agreste, Mme Legrand, gave me this particular assignment."

"I still think they're throwing too much at you for just being a part-time intern," Chloe insisted.

"You have no idea!" Marinette groaned. "But it's not Adrien; it's the office manager he hired last week. He doesn't understand yet that I'm still in school. No matter how many times I explain that I don't start until after school gets out, he still thinks I should be there to bring him his coffee at 8:00 sharp, even though school starts at 7:45!"

"Sounds like a real taskmaster," Sabrina observed.

"Are you sure you don't want me to 'talk' to him?" Chloe asked.

"No; I'm fine. So where are you two going?" Marinette asked, looking around the lobby.

"For some reason I never seem to have any cookies in my penthouse," Chloe answered, rolling her eyes upward and nodding toward her ponytail, "so we're on our way to the kitchens to pick some up."

Marinette stifled a giggle on hearing a small voice from Chloe's hair mutter, "I can't help it; they're just so good!"

"Do you want to join us?" Sabrina asked excitedly.

Marinette thought for a minute before nodding. "Why not?" she replied. "Papa was just leaving to make the delivery when I was on my way out, so he may still be here. I'm sure he would sneak us a few macaroons."

"And if he's not," Chloe told her, "Mme Césaire always looks the other way when I replenish my stock."

"It took a little work to get back on her good side after that cooking competition incident," Sabrina whispered conspiratorially.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Marinette groaned. "My uncle was Akumatized into Kung Food and tried to _cook_ Chloe!"

"You know, I don't think I ever really apologized for that," Chloe said, blushing a light pink. "I shouldn't have done that to your uncle. I-I was wrong."

"Wow, a Chloe Bourgeois apology!" Marinette teased. "Don't I feel special?"

"She's been doing that a lot recently," Sabrina told her. "It's a little disconcerting, actually." She poked Chloe in the ribs for emphasis.

"New school year, new me," Chloe retorted. "Besides, if I'm one of the Heroes of Paris, I should probably try to act like it, right?"

Marinette glanced over at Sabrina and stifled a giggle as the other girl smiled. They walked together into the hotel kitchen, where her Papa was just packing up the crates from the day's delivery and sharing a joke with Mme Césaire.

"Ah, good morning girls," Mme Césaire greeted them with a wave. "And Marinette! It's a treat to see you here! You're not spending the day with Alya and the twins?"

"Not the morning," Marinette answered. "I have some designs to finish up, and the girls make it hard to concentrate! But Nino is helping her right now, and I'm planning to go with them to the park after lunch."

"Then I shouldn't keep you, should I?" Mme Césaire replied with a twinkle in her eye. "And you girls will be looking for some sweets, am I right? I swear, Tom, these two go through more of your cookies in a week than my twins do!"

"Ah, it's the same with Marinette," Papa told her, winking at Marinette. "No sooner do I bring a box of rejects up to the kitchen than Marinette whisks them all away!"

"Thank you, Mme Césaire," Marinette said, grabbing the bag she offered them and rolling her eyes.

Once the three were out of the kitchen, Marinette dropped a cookie into her purse and muttered, "You know, thanks to you everyone thinks I actually _eat_ 30 cookies every day!"

Sabrina giggled as she held out a cookie for Nooroo, who had appeared from her vest pocket. "You would think Hawk Moth never fed him at all for how many cookies Nooroo eats!"

"That's nothing: the last bag of cookies I bought, I didn't get a single one because Pollen ate all of them before we'd even gotten out of the elevator!"

They walked into the hotel's main ballroom to find the cleaning crew busy sweeping and mopping after the previous night's party. Marinette wandered over and found a seat at a table they had already cleared off. She pulled her sketchpad out of her bag and flipped to a blank page before scanning the room, waiting for inspiration.

Across the room, Chloe walked right up to the head of the cleaning crew. "Be a dear and take a break, will you? My friend wants the use the room for a bit and we're on a bit of a schedule. I promise we won't be more than an hour or so."

As the crew packed up and left, Chloe called, "Thank you! I'll be sure to tell Daddy what a marvelous job you're doing!"

Once the cleaning crew had left and the door had shut behind them, Sabrina dropped into a chair next to Marinette, who was still staring at a blank sheet. "You know," Marinette said, setting down her pencil, "I don't know if I can get used to this new, polite Chloe. An apology _and_ a thank you in the same day?"

"It is quite a contrast," Sabrina agreed. "My father nearly had a heart attack when I was sick last week and Chloe tried to make me homemade soup!"

"I'm sorry you had to eat that," Marinette grimaced.

"It was actually kind of sweet," Sabrina replied, giggling. "Though that might have been because she used sugar instead of salt…"

Tikki popped out of Marinette's purse and grabbed a cookie from the bag they'd put on the table. "You were right, Marinette," Tikki squeaked around a mouthful of cookie. "The miraculous does bring out the best in people!"

"Tikki!" shouted Nooroo, phasing out of Sabrina's pocket.

"Nooroo!" Tikki called back, hugging Nooroo. "It's been too long!" The two kwamis started twirling around in the air, spinning around the room. As they reached the opposite end of the ballroom, a yellow blur crashed into them as Pollen joined them in gamboling around the room.

Marinette watched the Kwamis swirl and spin for a minute – red, violet, yellow – transfixed, before starting to draw. As she roughed out a model over which to superimpose her dress design, Chloe dropped into a chair on the other side of Sabrina and pulled a couple pastries out of the bag. She offered one to Sabrina, who refused, and then to Marinette, who took it and ate half in one bite.

Chloe glanced over at Marinette's sketchpad. "It looks like you're drawing Pollen," she observed.

"I suppose I am in part," Marinette replied, not looking away from her work. "I'm incorporating some of her markings into the dress, but mixing in some of Tikki's coloration. Then for the matching suit I'll contrast that by working in some of Nooroo's markings."

"I never would have thought of that," Chloe commented.

"Well, considering that you thought 'shade' meant eyeliner in Art class last year, I'm not surprised!" Sabrina replied, arching an eyebrow at her.

"'Eyeliner'?" Marinette laughed.

"Well, that's not _really_ wrong, is it?" Chloe retorted, grinning.

"Didn't Nino mix that one up, too, last year?" Marinette asked. "The teacher asked him to add shade, and he started rapping!"

Sabrina giggled. "That was the funniest thing ever! Especially the look on the teacher's face. She had no idea if she should send him to detention for disrupting class, send him to Remedial to relearn what words mean, or send him to a hospital offering more help than she could provide!"

Chloe burst out laughing. "How did I never realize how much fun it is hanging out with you before this summer, Marinette?"

"We were too busy despising each other?"

"Yeah, well… I'm glad we're hanging out now," Chloe admitted, blushing.

Marinette grinned and nodded toward the frolicking Kwamis. "What can I say? Us bugs have to stick together!"


End file.
